1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to the field of grading gemstones; particularly to systems or methods for evaluating and displaying the fire potential or dispersion of a diamond.
2. Description of the Related Art
Diamonds have traditionally been graded based on what is known as the four C's: color, clarity, carat weight, and cut. Other than carat weight which is directed to the actual size of the stone, the other three factors attempt to quantify or rank diamonds which are objectively better than others. The parameters, therefore, are ways of indicating how light interacts with the diamond, whether the stone appears bright and lively, and whether the diamond appears to produce color or not.
While the four C's have a long standing tradition, they are, in many respects, a stand in for what is a subjective appearance to a user. Instead of talking about more objective grading standards, many users instead will focus on what they see in a diamond. This may relate to color or to “liveliness” of a diamond. A well cut diamond, when moved, will often appear to include many different colors of light in a number of different locations making the stone have what appears to be a large amount of internal movement, color, and prismatic effect.
Generally, a diamond's effect on light is characterized by referring to the stone having fire, brilliance, or scintillation. All of these terms relate to the stone's ability to reflect, refract, or otherwise act on incoming light in a particular fashion. Brilliance is generally the stone's ability to redirect white light toward a viewer, scintillation is generally the apparent movement or flashing of light in the stone, and fire is generally the ability of the stone to disperse light and produce colors which appear to be within the stone.
Interestingly, cutting a diamond for one effect will often lower the ability to see other effects. For instance, a very brilliant diamond, will often appear to not have much fire. While color may be being produced and the stone does produce a high level of dispersion, the color may be washed out by the high level of white light. Therefore, it often requires examination of a stone under many different lighting conditions to see its true attributes.
Because of the complexity of a diamond's geometry as well as the different kind of environments in which it may be viewed, purchasing diamonds is often very hard on a consumer. They may look at a diamond and think it is attractive, but are concerned that what they like is not objectively “better” or that they are being overcharged for an item which is as much an investment as a purchase. For this reason, an ability to objectively evaluate and also to more systematically explain and display the properties of a particular diamond are desirable.